GOP Outlines Data Retention Law for You and Us
The bills, Senate Bill S-436 and House Bill HR1076 are both named the "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act," or Internet SAFETY Act. While purporting to be aimed at child pornography on the Internet it also, quite obviously, could be used by say, the record and movie industries to pursue those they feel are sharing files illegally.
At a press conference on Thursday, the bills were introduced by two Republicans, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX). Neither of the bills has co-sponsors. Cornyn said:
"While the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way we communicate and do business, its limitless nature offers anonymity that has opened the door to criminals looking to harm innocent children. Keeping our children safe requires cooperation on the local, state, federal, and family level."The thing is, both bills contain the exact same phrase:
A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user.Temporarily assigned network address? Translation: dynamic IP addresses, which could be assigned via an ISP, a hotspot, or even your own home router.
Yes, as written, the bill would require home users to keep logs for two years. While over-the-top, it's not just our opinion. Paul Levy, an attorney at Public Citizen who has litigated Internet anonymity cases, told C|Net: "I have a Wi-Fi network at home, and i would have no idea how to retain IP information."
And what good does any info from a hotspot do? So you know the MAC address of someone who stopped in for a cup of coffee and some free wi-fi, but how do you know who they were?
We have to wonder if this is just another example of politicians who don't understand technology writing something without really knowing what they are doing. Perhaps they wrote it the way they did not realizing they would be including home users as well. Even with that possible "excuse" for the pols, that doesn't mean we're for this bill, however.
Speaking of politicians who don't know much about technology, let's take another look at Ted Stevens' tubes, shall we?
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Please allow me to take this opportunity to vent my frustrations about politicians, and the cesspool of a political system under which they operate. Am I the only one who is fed up with politicians quietly eroding our liberties behind a euphemistic front. They disguise their efforts behind things like stopping child pornography, drugs, violent crime, etc. so that all the other half asleep politicians will vote favorably. If by chance another politician is actually doing their job, and votes against this type of foolery, then they are made to appear ostensibly against stopping child pornography, etc. Not to mention the shameless practice of piggybacking legislation onto huge bills, in the hope that it goes unnoticed. If disgust were water, I would be drowning right now. |
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Wow who didn't see this - another politician proclaiming to save the Internet by providing the perfect knee jerk issue - CP. CP is to the internet as terrorism/state secret is to everything else. Oh nooos, the terrists, here take all my civil liberties, and I promise to obey whatever you say, and work like a slave for whatever scrap you throw to me, just keep me safe from them! Yes, this is the state of the world. Politicians are afraid of the internet and communication in general, because now the base of power is shifting to the people, well those that are paying attention. They don't like that, so they will ban together to do everything to simply limit your freedom. Anyone out there paying attention, this has nothing to do with CP and violence, they could care less and they themselves probably have CP on their machines. This is about power and control - control over you, your life and how you live it. Democracy? Freedom? Don't make me laugh. Watch and see, blogging will be next on their hit list. It already started with the last election cycle. America voted for change and they got suckered - again, because they are still getting more of the same. When Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul were talking, everyone disregarded them, but those are the only guys who were laying it out on the line, and telling you like it is as well as asking the real questions. |
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